October inflation: cost of transport, clothing, alcoholic beverages, tobacco up in Georgia

Cost of transport, clothing, footwear, alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased in Georgia to influence the October inflation rate, which posted a 0.6 percent month-on-month increase, the National Statistics Office of Georgia on Friday said.

Specifically, the prices for transport increased by 3.6 percent, for clothing and footwear - by 3.3 percent, and for alcoholic beverages and tobacco - by 1.3 percent.

As for the annual inflation, Geostat said it amounted to 0.8 percent in October and was mainly influenced by price changes for miscellaneous goods and services (+9.8 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+6.6 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+4.2 percent), transport (+1.2 percent) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (-1.2 percent).

The National Bank of Georgia last month said the inflation rate would remain below three percent throughout the rest of the year in the country. It said headline inflation stood at 0.7 percent, while core inflation was 2.5 percent in September due to the “tight monetary policy”, while also noting the weakening of the price pressures stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The central bank said the “additional uncertainty” was created around the inflation forecast, caused by the “acute geopolitical situation” due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well as the “partially worsened trends” in price and supply volatility on the fuel market.